- —Ixar
Appearing in ""The Ultroids Attack!""
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- ⏴ Black Widow (Natasha) ⏵
- ⏴ Quicksilver (Pietro) ⏵ (Main story and recap)
- ⏴ Scarlet Witch (Wanda) ⏵ (Main story and recap)
Antagonists:
- Ultrana ⏵ (First appearance) (Impersonates Scarlet Witch) (Main story and flashback)
- Ixar ⏵ (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Hans Geldoff (First appearance)
- Power Man (Erik Josten) (Mentioned)
- Swordsman (Mentioned)
- William Tell (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
- Colossus (Mentioned)
- Iron Man (Tony Stark) (Mentioned)
- Robin Hood (Mentioned)
- Living Laser (Arthur Parks) (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
- Ultroids (First appearance) (Main story and flashback)
- Humans (Main story and recap)
- Demons (Mentioned)
- Ants (Mentioned)
- Cows (Invoked)
- Sirians
- Androids (Mentioned)
- Rhinos (Referenced)
Locations:
- Milky Way (Main story and flashback)
- Solar System (Main story and flashback)
- Earth (Main story and flashback)
- United States
- Europe (Main story and flashback)
- Latin America (Mentioned)
- Earth (Main story and flashback)
- Sirius (Mentioned)
- Solar System (Main story and flashback)
Items:
- Captain America's Shield
- Hawkeye's Bow and Trick Arrows
- Black Widow's Gauntlets
- Wings
- Absorbo-Net
Vehicles:
- Ixar's spacecraft (Main story and flashback)
- Jet
- Aero-Car
Synopsis for ""The Ultroids Attack!""
(Story continues from last issue) Captain America is surprised to find the Scarlet Witch in Avengers Mansion. She relates that Quicksilver has been kidnapped by a UFO.
Elsewhere, Hawkeye nominates the Black Widow for membership, but Goliath objects on the grounds that the Avengers is not a "halfway house" for reformed criminals. A distress signal reaches the team. Despite Wanda's concern for her brother, Cap states that the Avengers must always concern themselves with innocent civilians first. Thus the Avengers (including the Scarlet Witch and the Black Widow) fly to the Balkans. There, they discover a huge computer named Ixar draining information from the village's Burgomeister, Hans Geldoff.
Ixar lured the Avengers to him in order to extract power use them to build the Ultroids. They also discover that the Scarlet Witch who accompanied them is a fake, she is in fact an Ultroid known as Ultrana.
Ultrana and the Ultroids attack the Avengers, capturing them all. They are to be subjected to Ixar's experiments. Since the Black Widow is not an Avenger, she is sent to be destroyed.
Notes
- Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were last seen briefly in X-Men #27. They were contacted briefly by Professor X.
- This is the first appearance of Ixar and his Ultroids.
- Page 2: In the flashback, Mr. Burgomeister says that the towns hospitality was to make up for denouncing and driving Pietro and Wanda away because they were mutants. This event was originally depicted in X-Men #4.
- Page 5: Cap explains that they've just returned from Central America. In Avengers Vol 1 34-35, they battled the Living Laser and in issue Vol 1 35, they had traveled to the Central American nation of Costa Verde to battle the villain.
- In an argument over Black Widow joining the Avengers, Goliath remarks that the Black Widow recently teamed up with Power Man and Swordsman to attack the Avengers. This occurred in Avengers Vol 1 29-30, but she had been brainwashed by communists.
- Page 6: Further into his argument with Hawkeye about Black Widow joining Goliath comments that he doesn't want the Avengers to become " a rest home for retired villains." This is a slight towards Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch who - prior to joining the Avengers in issue Vol 1 16 - were all villains. Hawkeye first battled Iron Man back in Tales of Suspense 57 while the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants from X-Men Vol 1 4-12.
- Hawkeye retorts with how Goliath was on vacation. This is a reference to Goliath taking a leave of absence from the Avengers from Avengers Vol 1 18-28.
- Goliath boasts about fighting Colossus (Vegan). This occurred in Tales to Astonish 58. Hawkeye boasts about fighting Iron Man, which Hawkeye first did in Tales of Suspense 57.
- Cap breaks up their quarrel and tells them their nerves are frayed since combating the Living Laser. This is another reference to Avengers Vol 1 34-35.
- Page 7: The impostor Scarlet Witch asks Goliath and Hawkeye if their argument is how they greet a returning Avenger. The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver have been on leave from the Avengers since Avengers Vol 1 30, when they left to return to their homeland, Transia, after realizing their powers were fading. They speculated that returning home would recharge their abilities.
- Page 15: Editorial error when Hawkeye calls out to Captain America after Cap's capture, Hawkeye calls him "Web-head". "Web-head" is the nickname for Spider-Man. Cap's nickname (or at least what Hawkeye calls him) is "Wing-head."
- Page 18: Art error when Captain America appears captured next to Hawkeye even though he was not captured by the Ultroids.
- Captain America, Goliath, Wasp, Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, the Black Widow, Ixar and the Ultroids are all seen again next issue.
- Last issue, when Steven Rogers spun around and said "You!", Roy Thomas originally wanted the stranger to be Iron-Man and Thor, who were returning to active duty with the Avengers. Stan Lee vetoed that idea because he felt it would be hard to incorporate two major characters with their own series. Roy went with the Scarlet Witch and brought her and Quicksilver back. Roy also figured that Stan was going to ask for the return of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch sooner or later.
Trivia
- The title "Burgomeister" is a spelling mistake; the German word for mayor is "Bürgermeister".
- References: X-Men #27 and Avengers #29